Hard to See
Have you ever been looking for something that is right in front of you but you just can’t see it?
Just the other day I was looking every where for my sunglasses. You know where they were?
On my head!
And then there was the time I couldn’t find my car keys.
They were in my pocket!
Ever been there? Done that?
A few weeks ago I was in Dallas and I decided to stay with a friend. It had been a long day and I slept hard that night. When I woke up, I was still half asleep. It was one of those moments where I thought I was at my house. I had momentarily forgotten where I was. It was dark. I was confused. I got up out of bed to go get a shower and found myself running into a wall!
Sometimes it’s hard to see what we’re looking for.
Sometimes it’s hard to see what’s right in front of us.
Sometimes it’s hard to see in the dark.
And right now, we’re living in a world full of darkness. People are struggling and it’s as if they’re stumbling around in the dark. People are looking for something, searching for something, but whatever it is they’re looking for they can’t seem to find it.
Did you know that on average Google processes about 8.5 billion searches per day. That’s about 99,000 searches per second!
Three of the most common questions are “Who is God?”, “What is the Bible?”, and “Who is Jesus?”
We are living in a world full of darkness and people are searching for answers. They may or may not be looking in the right places for those answers, but there are people all around us who are searching.
See in the Dark
But it’s hard to see in the dark. It’s hard to find what you’re really looking for when you just can’t see. This is the same problem a man by the name of Nicodemus was having some 2000 years ago.
He knew what he was looking for, at least… he thought he knew what he was looking for. But even though it was right in front of him he couldn’t see it. And the reason he couldn’t see it is because it was dark.
He was living in a world full of darkness. His problem, like our problem, wasn’t physical blindness. It was spiritual blindness.
Nicodemus was a respected religious leader, a Pharisee, a prominent Rabbi in Israel, a member of the Sanhedrin – the Jewish religious council. He was a prominent person in Israel and he wants to meet with Jesus.
But to meet with Jesus in the light of day would be a problem. Nicodemus has to be careful here. He has his position to think about. He has his reputation to think about. The Jewish leaders aren’t sure what to do with Jesus, but they don’t like the fact that He’s got a following.
John 3
1 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus.
Most people think Nicodemus came to meet with Jesus under the cover of night because he was afraid to be seen with Jesus during the light of day. And that is a definite possibility.
But… you should also know that in the gospel of John light and dark are symbolic. They carry a metaphorical meaning for John. To be in the light is good and is to see. To be in the dark is to be in spiritual darkness, to be spiritually blind.
The only other character in John’s gospel who appears at night is Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus (John 13.30).
Nicodemus came to see Jesus at night. And that might have been for more than one reason. But don’t miss this, John wants us to see Nicodemus coming at night because he knows Nicodemus is struggling with the same thing so many of us are struggling with today.
Doubt. Darkness. Spiritual darkness. Spiritual blindness.
Light & Dark
Next week, we’re going to take a look at what happens in the next chapter. In John 4 Jesus meets with a Samaritan Woman during the light of day. THAT story is placed right next to THIS story in John 3 about Nicodemus on PURPOSE.
Nicodemus comes at night, indicating spiritual darkness, spiritual blindness. The Samaritan woman comes at high noon, the brightest part of the day, indicating that maybe she can see something others can’t see!
We’ll talk more about that next week… but don’t miss out on how John invites us to think about the stories of Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman together.
Again or Again?
Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night, in the darkness, and he initiates the conversation. He says…
2 “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus says we’ve seen the signs. We’ve seen the evidence. We can see that God is with you. This is what Nicodemus can see!
But even though Nicodemus has seen the signs he hasn’t yet seen the Kingdom of God. And Jesus meets Nicodemus in the dark to tell him how he can SEE the Kingdom of God. That happens, according to Jesus, when you are born again!
Unless you are born again, you cannot see!
Now this is one of those times where a word has more than one meaning. Like when I say the word, “tie.” Am I talking about something most preachers wear around their neck or what you do to a rope when you want to tie a knot?
Or when I say the word, “bat.” Am I talking about the animal that flies out from under the big bridge in Austin or am I talking about that stick the Astros swing and miss with during a baseball game?
Jesus says that unless you are born again… And that word again is the word anothen in Greek. It can mean again, as in a second time. Or it can mean from above.
If you’re a little bit confused, you’re not alone. So was Nicodemus.
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
Nicodemus thinks Jesus means this literally, which is literally impossible! You can’t physically be born “again.”
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
Snake Bit!
Nicodemus is blind to this spiritual truth Jesus is trying to teach him. He’s not talking about being physically born again. He’s talking about being spiritually born from above! This isn’t about physical birth, it’s about spiritual birth.
Humans give birth to human life.
The Spirit gives birth to Spiritual life. And this is what Jesus wants Nicodemus to see!
9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? 11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. 12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
At this point, the story takes a bit of a turn and you may be scratching your head wondering what Jesus is talking about when he starts telling Nicodemus to remember what happened with the bronze snake!
How many of you like snakes? Me neither! The only kind of snakes I like are dead snakes!
You might be a little lost when you hear Jesus mention something about a bronze snake, but Nicodemus knew exactly what Jesus was talking about here.
In the Old Testament, there’s a story in Numbers 21 about a time when Israel was living in spiritual darkness. They were complaining against God. Even though God had miraculously delivered them from hundreds of years of Egyptian bondage.
Even though God miraculously provided manna from Heaven for them to eat every day. Even though God had given them victory after victory against their enemies. They were unsatisfied. They complained. And so God sent judgement their way in the form of poisonous snakes.
You can imagine what happened next. People are snake bit, people are hurting, and people are dying. They cry out to God to save them. So God tells Moses to take a bronze snake, put it on a pole, and set it up for the people. Anyone who looks at the snake will be healed. They will be saved. How? By looking up!
Jesus wanted Nicodemus to see that He is the One who, if people will look up to Him when He is lifted up, they too will be healed, they will be saved.
You probably know the next verse by heart.
16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
This is what Jesus wants Nicodemus to SEE! And to believe!
Swimming with Sharks
Several years ago, when our kids were young, we took them on a trip to Disney World. While we were there, me & Will really wanted to go to the water park there at Disney. So we headed over together to this water park and hit as many rides as we could. We hit the wave pool, then did some water slides. We got into the lazy river and made our way around the park.
Then we saw a sign for something called Shark Reef.
So we went to check it out. We got in line and when we got up to the window the guy was handing out snorkeling masks. I was like, “What is this?” To which he replied, “You get to swim with sharks!”
Immediately we bailed out of that line. Nope… we’re not doing that!
It’s one thing to see people swimming with sharks, to know it’s possible to swim with the sharks, it’s something else entirely to get in the water.
This is what it means to have faith in the gospel of John. This is how Jesus wants Nicodemus to believe.
You see, in the gospel of John the noun form of the word faith is never used. In every place you find the word for faith in John’s gospel, it’s always in the verb form. 98 times John uses the verb faith in his gospel! John makes up a new word, and it’s not good English, but what Jesus essentially says here is that…
For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who is FAITHING in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Jesus doesn’t JUST want Nicodemus to come to believe something, or even believe in something. He’s calling him to the kind of faith that moves to action.
It’s the difference between believing you can swim with sharks and actually getting into the water, putting your face in and looking at the sharks swimming beneath you.
It’s the difference between believing something is possible and the activity of stepping out into it.
And it’s right here, in the middle of the darkness, in the middle of the night, Jesus is inviting Nicodemus to come and see God’s love.
Come & See God’s Love
And to not just put His faith in Him, but to start faithing in Him. To follow Him. And to make the move from darkness to light. From death to life. From doubt to faith. From watching from a distance to following Jesus up close.
For people who are perishing, for people who are living in darkness, for people who are suffering from the poison of sin, Jesus is the Healer! Look to Jesus and you will be saved!
In fact, keep reading and you’ll see this in the very next verse.
17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to SAVE the world through him.
The word SAVE in the original language is the same word used in your Bible over and over again to mean SAVE or HEAL!
To be saved is to be healed. Be healed of what! To be healed of the spiritual disease called sin! To be healed of the poison, the venom, of sin! To be healed of our spiritual blindness so we can see!
Just like in the wilderness all those years before when the people of God were suffering and dying from poisonous snakes because of their SIN against God, people today are suffering and dying, spiritually dying, living in spiritual darkness, because of sin.
But there is HOPE! Because there is a healer!
The Invitation to See What You Could Not See Before
Have you found what you’re searching for? WHO you’re searching for?
That day at the Disney World water park, somehow, I still don’t know how, but Will and I decided to do it. To go back and get in line. To put on the life vest, the goggles and the snorkel. To wade out into ice cold water and push off. To put our faces down and to see the beauty of the sharks, the sting rays, the beautiful fish swimming below us.
Together we were able to wade into the unknown and see what we could not see before.
And I just wonder for you, is it time for you to take that next step of faith, whatever it is for you, and wade into the unknown so you can see what you could not see before?
Even on our best day, it’s sometimes hard to see what’s right in front of us. That was true for Nicodemus. And maybe that’s where you are today.
You want to believe. Or maybe you want to want to believe. And if that’s you, here’s the Good News for you, Jesus can work with that!
For everyone who is living in darkness, the Light of the World has come.
For everyone suffering and dying from the spiritual disease called sin, there is Hope because there is a Healer.
And His name is Jesus.
The Move from Darkness to Light
Jesus wanted Nicodemus to see God’s love. And Jesus knew, for Nicodemus to see God’s love, to really see it, and experience it, he would have to make the move to faith.
But it wasn’t just a call to believe. It was call to action. A invitation to follow. Because…
It is by FAITHING in Jesus that we experience eternal life!
So I guess the question I need to ask you today is simply this, “Are you ready to make a move?”
If you make a move towards Jesus, He will Light up your life. He will heal your sin sick soul. He will come and He will save you. That’s what Jesus came to do!
God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to SAVE/HEAL the world through him.
What’s interesting is that this isn’t the last time we hear about Nicodemus. In John 19.39 he appears again.
I can just imagine Nicodemus seeing Jesus on that cross. Witnessing every event that led up to this moment. And now, he finds himself at the foot of the cross. And he remembers what Jesus told him.
For God so loved the world… that He gave His one & only Son… And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
That Friday, just before sunset, Nicodemus appears during the light of day, and he’s helping take the body of Jesus down from the cross. He literally moved from darkness to light.
Will we?
Church, we have a chance today to not just point people to the Light, but to be the Light to those around us who may be walking in spiritual darkness.
Let’s turn on the light so that those around us can see that Jesus is with us, He is with them, and He has come to save us, He has come to heal us.
May those who have eyes to see, see.
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